Off-highway work vehicles, such as tractors, front-end loaders, and the like, have been developed for many purposes and generally include an engine, a transmission, and various other drivetrain components attached to a chassis. The engine in such a work vehicle may be cooled in a variety of ways depending at least in part on the size and/or type of engine included. For example, the work vehicle may include a radiator for removing heat from a coolant that flows through or around at least a portion of the engine. An airflow can be provided across the radiator by a fan assembly to increase an amount of heat removed from the coolant. The fan assembly can include a fan shroud and a fan, the fan shroud defining an opening and the fan including a rotor and blades positioned in the opening.
During operation of the work vehicle, certain components of the work vehicle, potentially including the chassis and the fan shroud, may “flex” or deform due in part to the various terrains and/or work load demands of the work vehicle. In order to avoid damage to the blades of the fan assembly that may occur if the blades contact the fan shroud, the fan assembly generally defines a clearance between the opening of the fan shroud and the tips of the blades. The clearance is typically greater than 5% of a diameter of the fan.
Certain problems may exist, however, with such a configuration. For example, the clearance required to prevent damage during flex of the shroud assembly may decrease an efficiency of the fan assembly by allowing a portion of the air forced through the opening of the fan shroud to swirl around the blade tips opposite a flow direction of the fan assembly. Additionally, the clearance may increase an amount of noise produced by the fan assembly during operation.
Attempts to increase the efficiency of the fan assembly in a work vehicle have included adding a nylon brush mechanism that extends inwardly from the fan shroud towards the tips of the blades. However, such a configuration may fail to prevent an amount of swirl around the tips of the blades, and may also fail to effectively reduce an amount of noise produced by the fan assembly.
Accordingly, a mechanism for increasing an efficiency of a fan assembly for a work vehicle and reducing an amount of noise created by the same would be useful. Moreover, a mechanism that is capable of increasing a fan assembly's efficiency and reducing the amount of noise produced by the fan assembly, while still protecting the fan assembly from damage, would be particularly beneficial.